Bagpuss to the theme from Minder.

Still don't understand why they can't bring back in-vision continuity announcers. All you need is a comfy chair, a plant and some top-line 80s fashion.

It's time to flick through the Boots Freetime Autumn 1985 magazine www.ephemeral80s.co.uk/2025/09/boot... featuring toys, technology, gruesome recipes and some curious tracksuits.

New article is A Tale of Digging Through Old Video Tapes www.curiousbritishtelly.co.uk/2025/09/a-ta... where I discuss how I got into salvaging old video tapes and the associated pleasures and pains.

Yes, it's another mini-review of a Let's Pretend episode www.curiousbritishtelly.co.uk/2025/09/0312... and this time it's The Broom and the Vacuum Cleaner from 1984.

Let's take a look at the EMAP company newsletter from December 1985 www.ephemeral80s.co.uk/2025/09/spla... featuring arm wrestling with Brian Blessed, Linda Lusardi, ghoulish Halloween costumes and lots of advertising executives.

Has there ever been a greater pair of lads? Ant and Dec ain't got nothing on these two.

Folk horror comes to Crown Court! This case from 1974 is inspired by the Lower Quinton ‘witchcraft murder’ of 1945 & written by David Pinner, whose novel Ritual inspired The Wicker Man m.youtube.com/watch?v=6O3r...

We're truly living in The Day Today.

Here's 159 British Children's TV Shows from the 1980s You Forgot About www.curiousbritishtelly.co.uk/2022/01/159-... a definitive look at all those long forgotten shows we enjoyed as kids.

I'm vaguely starting to run out of Betamax tapes, so if you've got any old ones stashed away in cupboards/lofts, please let me know. VHS more than welcome too. Only looking for 80s recordings. Thanks.

Don't forget to take a peek at the Curious British Telly Substack substack.com/@curiousbrit... chockablock with vintage telly goodness and nutrition - subject to regional variations.

Remember Get Set Go? 1984 game show/manic word play hosted by a youthful Michael Barrymore on BBC1? Me neither, but it certainly happened as I've written about it here: www.curiousbritishtelly.co.uk/2025/08/get-...

Remember Get Set Go? 1984 game show/manic word play hosted by a youthful Michael Barrymore on BBC1? Me neither, but it certainly happened as I've written about it here: www.curiousbritishtelly.co.uk/2025/08/get-...

It's time to admire my recently acquired St Michael dressing gown ephemeral80s.co.uk/2025/08/st-m... which dates back a cool 40 years.

Channel 5 revives BBC’s Play for Today to ‘help shape future of British drama’

Meanwhile, over on Ebay, you can pick up this lovely Puddle Lane pencil set for just £37.08...

An amazing trailer for How to Pick Up Girls, Win Arguments and Influence People - an edition of QED which first aired in 1982. Different times indeed. Found on Betamax.

New article looks at 02/11/1987 - Let's Pretend: Fred Midas www.curiousbritishtelly.co.uk/2025/08/0211... a typical episode of the 1980s ITV lunchtime children's programme which I missed, at the time, having recently started school.

An utterly delightful slice of 80s ephemera, here's a copy of the Lacock Parish Magazine from September 1984. Read more at www.ephemeral80s.co.uk/2025/07/laco... and get ready for the upcoming church fete.

The Amstrad technical guys look like the baddies in a direct to VHS Die Hard knock off.

An utterly delightful slice of 80s ephemera, here's a copy of the Lacock Parish Magazine from September 1984. Read more at www.ephemeral80s.co.uk/2025/07/laco... and get ready for the upcoming church fete.

New blog looks at Think Tank curiousbritishtelly.co.uk/2025/07/regi... a fiendishly difficult teatime quiz show from 1981 hosted by Tony Wilson. Don't recognise it? Well, it only aired for one series in the Granada region.

It's time to dig out my St Michael coffee glass from 1985 and have a quick hit of caffeinated nostalgia: www.ephemeral80s.co.uk/2025/07/st-m...

Hula Hoops Smoky Bacon: Yes, smoky bacon, but the piggy taste gets a little lost in the dense, starchy potato flavour of the Hula Hoop. As ever, a phenomenal, sharp crack of a crunch. Rating: 7.2

Marks & Spencer Lamb Kofta: These crisps are a rich feast of aromatic ground spices with a hint of chilli to add a dry, peppery heat. The lamb's restricted to a mere cameo in the background, but the delicious spices are impossible to ignore. Rating: 8.0

Yes, it’s time for a quick flick through the 1985 Minder annual. A nice little earner if ever there was one: curiousbritishtelly.substack.com/p/inside-the...

Sainsbury's Sea Salt & Suffolk Cider Vinegar: Firstly, the potatoes are delicious, all earthy and rich - as if they've lived their life like a king. Secondly, the cider vinegar bangs with a tarte, fruity, lip-puckering tingle which somehow swerves an acidic burn. Rating: 8.4

An excellent example of early 1980s fashion, this is my beloved St Michael knitted track top. Read more about how I wear it into modern day Marks & Spencer stores here: www.ephemeral80s.co.uk/2025/06/st-m...

Aldi Kentucky Smoked BBQ: Aldi smash it out the park again with crisps that taste like a Louisville family gathering in a heatwave. Bourbon smoke curls through the sweet and fruity barbecue sauce notes to send your tastebuds into overdrive. Mouth-watering. Rating: 8.4

Help Get the IBA Education Archive Online! Read more here: www.curiousbritishtelly.co.uk/2025/05/help...

I've started a new site www.ephemeral80s.co.uk all about forgotten bits and pieces of British life from the 1980s, expect the mundane and the ephemeral.

They're remaking Threads?! Here's my thoughts: curiousbritishtelly.substack.com/p/threads-re...

They're remaking Threads?! Here's my thoughts: curiousbritishtelly.substack.com/p/threads-re...

I've started a new site www.ephemeral80s.co.uk all about forgotten bits and pieces of British life from the 1980s, expect the mundane and the ephemeral.

Popped over to the Peterborough Museum today to visit their Adventures in Time and Space exhibition today, featuring all manner of Doctor Who costumes and props. More details here: curiousbritishtelly.substack.com/p/adventures...

Seabrook Fish & Chips: These crisps deliver a rich, golden batter crunch and are resolutely British. Gloriously fried, they're all fluffy potato with the slightest hint of cod, like a wink from a trawler. Rating: 8.1

Several episodes of Mog - a long, forgotten mid-1980s ITV sitcom starring Enn Reitel - have emerged online.

A few years ago, I wrote a couple of books on long-forgotten British children's television programmes. You can find them on Amazon at tinyurl.com/cbtbooks

Why is this all I see when I close my eyes at night?

That's Life gives us the public's view on nudity in 1983. Found on Betamax.

New article is Betamax Find: Hollywood or Bust curiousbritishtelly.substack.com/p/betamax-fi... a long forgotten ITV vehicle for Bruce Forsyth from 1984.

Brand new from boxes.

New article is Bursts of Gaelic Madness: Mag is Mog and Bzzz www.curiousbritishtelly.co.uk/2025/04/burs... which looks at two Scottish Gaelic children's programmes from the early 1980s which rank among the strangest things I've ever watched.

It’s time for another Betamax find curiousbritishtelly.substack.com/p/betamax-fi... which features quintessential 1984 news and a warning from the BBC that viewers should not be taking wild kestrels home. God bless the past.

Watched a slice of British television which can only be described as "Madness, Trevor, absolute madness on a scale unparalleled in history" - all I can tell you, for now, is that it was from 1983.

New article is Betamax Find: 02/07/1982 News at Ten curiousbritishtelly.substack.com/p/betamax-fi... which takes a look at this fleeting time capsule of 1982.

Due to a mix-up at the BBC Graphics Department in 1982... #DoctorWho #Sorry

It's time to look back at Teetime and Claudia www.curiousbritishtelly.co.uk/2025/04/teet... an animated Children's ITV show from the early 1980s which only a handful of people remember. And probably with good reason.